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1. A Gift from the New World
Christopher Columbus is the first to mention a plant to which the indigenous peoples of the Americas attribute great value: tobacco.
During his second voyage in 1495, the Genoese brought with him Friar Ramon Pane, who provided the first description of this sacred herb. But it would take a few more years before it reached Europe.
In 1560, Jean Nicot, ambassador to Portugal, gifted it to Queen Catherine de’ Medici of France, who sniffed it to cure her migraines.
It was she who made the “Queen’s Herb” popular throughout Europe, contributing to its spread.
2. Tobacco Conquers Tuscany
In 1574, Niccolò Tornabuoni sent his uncle Alfonso, bishop of Sansepolcro, the seeds of Nicotiana Tabacum.
Thus tobacco arrived in Italy for the first time, and soon, thanks to Cosimo I de’ Medici, its cultivation spread throughout the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, but especially in the Republic of Cospaia
3. Tobacco in Cospaia
It is said that the tiny Republic of Cospaia was born from a cartographic error, but in reality, a tax-free zone was convenient both for the Papacy and for the Grand Duchy.
In any case, in this free land governed by its own inhabitants, tobacco found fertile soil and was able to grow luxuriantly like nowhere else.
4. The Incident That Made History
In 1815, a load of Kentucky tobacco was left uncovered and was soaked by a summer storm.
Because of that soaking, however, the Kentucky underwent fermentation, which gave it a unique flavor!
The fermentation process was then institutionalized and perfected: those cigars with an unmistakable aroma were called fermentati (“fermented”), because of their processing, or Toscani cigars, because of their origin.
Once dried, that tobacco was used by a factory in Florence to produce low-cost cigars for the people.
5. The Secret of an Unmistakable Taste
What has always made Kentucky tobacco unmistakable is fire-curing, and this also applies to the tobacco used in the production of Tornabuoni, direct heirs of the first Tuscan cigars.
Nothing is left to chance: once harvested, the Kentucky is cured by burning oak wood from our forests.
This careful processing, together with controlled fermentation, gives our tobacco a uniquely rich range of aromas.
6. Expert Hands of Women
If tobacco began to spread thanks to a queen, it is thanks to many other women that it won the hearts of smokers.
First of all, the tabacchine: women who, with a keen eye, select each leaf, assigning it to the wrapper or the filler.
Then there are the sigaraie (cigar rollers), who with great mastery handcraft every Tornabuoni with long filler filler, or use our historic machinery to create Tornabuoni with chopped filler.
For generations, they have also played a crucial role in women’s emancipation, finding in wage labor a significant economic independence.
7. Over Two Hundred Years of Tuscan Cigars
Tuscan cigars have endured more than two centuries of history, produced first in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then by the Kingdom of Italy, and finally by the Italian Republic.
In 2015, Compagnia Toscana Sigari was born, inheriting the noble legacy of this centuries-old tradition.
8. Innovation in Tradition
We embraced tradition but wanted to keep it alive by innovating it.
We are unique because we have adopted a new production approach that takes into account the characteristics of each individual field, each varietal line, and each type of fermentation.
We were the first in Europe to create a cigar from a certified supply chain, with tobacco 100% from organic farming.
We are the only ones to use machinery with a sigaraia at the machine itself to lay the fresh wrapper, and we have revived the hand-rolling technique with long filler.
Our Grand Cru, Grand Cuvée, and Fumé cigars are unique and inimitable because they are the offspring of ancestral knowledge and an unprecedented modern approach.
9. A Story Rich in Flavor
You have followed the history—now savor the present!
The first journey of tobacco from the Americas to Tuscan lands, Bishop Tornabuoni’s intuition, the skill of our sigaraie, and the countless steps that lead from seed to cigar are all pieces of the authentic pleasure you are about to discover.
Enjoy our cigars: history has perhaps never been so rewarding!